It is well known to supplement or replace the orginal iron sights on a firearm such as a rifle, shotgun or pistol with auxiliary sighting aids. Such aids include optical scopes, so-called "night vision" devices, and electronic devices designed to amplify whatever ambient light may be present in the field of view. One way to categorize such auxiliary sighting aids is according to whether they are intended to be permanently mounted on a firearm, or whether they are adapted to be selectively installed and removed from the firearm--to meet certain needs. For example, if a rifle is to be carried by a paratrooper who is jumping from an airplane, it will likely be useful to protect an optical scope from possible damage as the paratrooper hits the ground with a rifle slung on his shoulder. It would be desirable in such a situation to have the scope safely stored away in a cushioned place in a backpack or the like, so that the paratrooper could retrieve the scope and quickly affix it to his rifle once he has disengaged himself from the parachute harness. In preparation for another jump the scope would, of course, have to be again removed from the rifle and stored in a place where it is not as vulnerable as it would be if it were permanently mounted on top of a rifle.
Other situations make it either convenient or necessary that an auxiliary sighting aid be at least temporarily removed from a firearm. For example, a night vision device may need to be sent to a service center for inspection and, if necessary, adjustment, repair or calibration. But there is no need to have an operative rifle in the same service facility where work is being done on the night vision device, so the ability to achieve a quick and easy separation of the two items is desirable. The rifle can then be securely maintained in an armory or the like while work is being done on the night vision device at a remote site.
Besides conventional sighting aids such as those illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,341,022 to Santoro entitled "Detachable Zero-Set Scope Mount for Handguns and Other Firearms" and U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,636 to Swan entitled "Mount for Mounting an Optical Sight on a Firearm," there are other auxiliary sighting aids in the form of flashlights which are sometimes attached to shotguns and the like for illuminating a target at nighttime. A user of such a scope can be a farmer trying to protect a chicken coop from an invading varmint, a policeman accomplishing a nighttime raid on a building where illicit drugs are being sold, or a hunter who is trying to bring home his quota of nocturnal animals. Naturally, it would be advantageous to be able to use a flashlight in a conventional manner until such time as the need arose to use a firearm. And it would be preferable to be able to point the flashlight alone--without the need to simultaneously point a firearm where a user wants to see something. But when the time comes to combine the flashlight with a firearm, it would be advisable for the beam of light that is produced by the flashlight to be dependably aligned with the bore of the firearm. Hence, an essentially fail-safe technique for installing a flashlight on a firearm can be critical to the success of a shot that is fired into an otherwise dark environment.
Apart from categorizing mounts for auxiliary sighting aids according to whether they are primarily adapted for permanent or on/off mounting, the on/off (or detachable) variety could further be classified as to whether they would meet the harsh requirements of functioning as a military-type mounting system. For example, the aforementioned Santoro scope mount for handguns may be perfectly suited for use by persons who periodically go to a recreational gun range and shoot at paper targets or the like. That is, both the pistols and scopes that are used by target shooters are typically kept in sturdy protective boxes and maintained in a clean condition. And when the conditions of field use do not involve subjecting the separated parts of a mounting system to mud, dirt, sand or ice, such systems may work perfectly well. On the other hand, the field conditions routinely experienced by military personnel and some hunters would render many civilian mounting systems completely useless. As a practical matter, then, any so-called "detachable" scope-mounting system which is intended for use by military personnel or by others whose firearms are subjected to harsh weather conditions must be less vulnerable to adverse environmental conditions.
One way that others have attempted to make military mounts less vulnerable to mud and the like is to avoid the kind of threaded engagement that is shown by Santoro. The Swan construction is one such alternative construction; and while Swan still employs two cooperatively-threaded elements, at least his threaded elements are not fixed to a firearm where they are subject to becoming fouled. Instead, Swan uses a threaded bolt that protrudes downwardly from a movable base, and the bolt extends through a smooth aperture where the bolt is engaged by a removable nut. Because both the bolt and the nut can be kept out of the mud by storing them in a protective bag when they are not installed on a rifle, a mounting system like that shown by Swan does offer at least some improvement over designs that have a threaded member permanently connected to a firearm. Unfortunately, though, the Swan construction solves one problem by introducing another. Specifically, the presence of a removable nut to hold a base on a rifle means that the nut can be dropped into a contaminating material (like mud or snow), or misplaced, or even lost. An ideal mount would avoid the risk of having a threaded member become fouled as a result of having it permanently attached to a firearm, while also having all parts of the mount connected together in such a way that there are no loose parts that can become separated or lost.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a mounting system having easy-on/easy-off characteristics and features that render it essentially immune to harsh environmental conditions.
Another object is to provide a mount for an auxiliary sighting aid in which there are no separable parts--like a fastening nut--that can become separated from the mount assembly, so that the mount will not be vulnerable to being rendered inoperative just because a fastening nut has been lost or misplaced.
A further object is to provide a mounting system for an auxiliary sighting aid which can be affixed to a firearm in the field using only a single hand, so that a user's other hand might be left free for holding equipment or grasping something like a rappeling rope.
These and other objects will be apparent from a reading of the specification and the claims appended thereto, as well as reference to the several figures of the drawing provided herewith.